I always thought I was a careful participant on Ebay but as the following shows, and I hope you learn as well, what I did wrong.

Be very careful of a Seller called Mafiamadness aka Campitelli's Collectables who is from Canada.

My story starts when looking for Vegas documents for this site. I found a magazine regarding Steve Wynn and saw this guy has over 1,000 feedbacks so I was safe. I never looked at the feedbacks nor the percentages, as I figured - hmmm, over 1,000, has to be good. I was the high bidder of this auction. I sent payment, he cashed the check and sent me the magazine, and I left positive feedback. In between payment being sent and the item being received there was another auction by him that I was also the high bidder of and again sent payment.

A little while after I received the Wynn magazine I get an e-mail from him asking for payment. I thought this was weird as I paid and received the magazine so I sent him an e-mail with a scan of the cancelled check telling him the auction was done and over with. A few days later he demanded I pay him. Again I sent him the e-mail with the cancelled check.

Then I receive an e-mail from him stating I didn't send payment for the second auction. I sent him yet another e-mail, this time attaching a scan of the cancelled check for the second auction. A few days later I received another e-mail asking for payment on the second auction. I sent him another e-mail attaching the scan of the cancelled check - another e-mail from him a few days later. Not only that but I received yet another e-mail regarding payment for the first auction.

Now I'm getting angry. He is demanding second payments on both auctions, ignoring my e-mails and I realize he is got a scam going demanding second payments for his auctions. I guess most people would just pay him again or ignore him. He either makes some extra money or he doesn't and can relist the item to some poor other sucker.

I reported him to Ebay and what I suspect he is doing. Even though I got their usual acknowledgement letter, they haven't done anything to date and I'm out my hard earned money for the second auction, essentially, now he can scam money using the 1969 magazine over and over again.

That's when it dawned on me to look at his feedback. Sure, he has over 1,000 feedbacks but he would have way, way over that if he didn't have so many negatives.

The kicker of this is that he wrote to me telling me he was going to send the item but was going to leave me negative feedback. I think he forgot who the victim was. I was the high bidder, sent him payment immediately, and got nothing in return. I told him to go ahead and do it. I have over 800 feedbacks, with a couple of neutrals (when I started on Ebay a friend knew my password & was messing around), and no negatives. His will stand out like a sore thumb and I would be more than happy to tell people about my one negative auction. Of course he didn't respond, nor did he send the magazine or refund my money. I guess if you only pay once you don't get the item.

The moral of this story - don't bid on any auction without looking at the feedbacks, not just how many the Seller has. If I had looked at his feedbacks I would've never bid on his auctions as he has plenty of complaints from others. I don't have anyone to blame but myself for not looking carefully at his feedbacks. I guess the thing that really bugs me is that I have so little money to spend on this site that it is a great disappointment when I essentially gave Mafiamadness the money for nothing, as well as looking forward to receiving that 1969 magazine. I'm Italian and he gives the name "Mafiamadness" a bad name in my opinion. Benny Siegel, Moe Dalitz, etc., are jumping around in their graves thinking that this "Seller" (and I use this term loosely) is using their name.

Now when I'm interested in an auction, I don't care if the Seller has 4,000 feedback I'm going to look at them as he/she may have 1,000 negatives that isn't evident by just looking at the overall feedback or even in the percentage guide.

You can see an example of this type of deception by looking at the feedback of Mafiamadness. Everything looks okay when you see one of his auctions, but look at the feedbacks and wham, it hits you.

I was surfing around Yahoo looking for Vegas auctions when I decided to cross over to the computer games. I saw a game on auction for a very cheap price (maybe my first mistake?!?!?)

The auction was held by Best_buys on Yahoo who also goes under the names on Ebay of toys4all, [email protected], $bestbuys$, bestbuy$, [email protected], yes-toys4all, and toys4all. All these names is really Sharon Sabella. The auction stated $3.55 shipping/handling in the U.S. I thought this was a little high as priority mail is $3.10/$3.20 but I figured the rest is handling which is okay with me. I always get insurance on computer games because they are on CDs so I figured the price of the auction, $3.55 shipping/handling and $.85 for insurance. Imagine my surprise when I received Sharon's e-mail that stated $1.00 for insurance. I was a little confused and wrote to her stating that for amount up to $50, the Post Office charges $.85. She wrote back and told me I was paying her employees to stand in line in the Post Office. Now, isn't that the handling part? I guess not.

The $.15 isn't bothering me mind you, its the idea that someone can actually bilk people for fees for insurance. That means if I don't ask the seller how much they charge for insurance they can say $.85 for insurance and $20 fee to pay the employee to go down to the Post Office, get gas in their car, wear and tear of course on the car, wear and tear on their shoes for standing in line in the Post Office, and the cost of picking their nose while walking back to the car. This is utter madness that people are thinking of ways to bilk the bidders! I told her that is part of the handling in the shipping and handling and if she needs that $.15 so bad, she should include it in the auction price or handling charges. Good old Sharon stood by the fact that she could do this. I have filed a grievance with the Post Office and have written a letter to the Better Business Bureau regarding this bad business practice.

It is definitely sad enough that Sharon had to make up a story trying to save herself. When she realized her comments to my feedback weren't making sense, she then invented a whole new story - that I wanted her to insure the item for more than $50.00 and she wouldn't do it.

As a Seller I'm starting to include the language "insurance extra in accordance with Post Office regulations and rules" to let everyone know that there are no extra fees.

What surprises me is the positive feedback that sellers like this receive! People figure "hey, its only $.15, I got the item okay," and they leave positive feedback. Well, I'm not like that. The amount of $.15 today could be $200 tomorrow. I have no fear of giving negative feedback when someone tries to get one over on me such as this case.

My warning to you - don't bid on Sharon or anyone's auctions without asking specific questions. They could charge $100 for insurance and you won't know it until you win the auction. Sad for us all!

In the past couple of days I've been receiving e-mails from a supposedly new bidder who wanted me to explain what was wrong with this practice. After a few e-mails back and forth "Larryhalls'" e-mails began to sound just like the way Sharon writes. Of course when I confronted Larry with this, the question was ignored. He then proceeds to bid on Sharon's item on February 20th and gives her positive feedback on February 22nd. I don't know about you, but I don't know anyone who leaves feedback without receiving the item unless of course you know them or you are actually the person. He couldn't even had sent payment as the 20th was a Sunday & Monday was a holiday.

A Bidder usually sends payment, waits for the product, and then leaves feedback. Certainly a new bidder would definitely waits to receive the product.

It awes me of how far a length a person would go to cover their dishonesty. If Sellers would just sell fairly there would be no need to lie, or to make up things as this Seller has done.

It seems Sharon doesn't see a problem with hidden charges and double billing for shipping and handling. Its okay for people to know they are going to pay $.85 for insurance just to have her e-mail arrive with a hiked up postage charge to pay her employees to stand in line in the Post Office. Its just fine that she locks unsuspecting bidders in her trap and they pay because they don't want negative feedback.

If any of you would like to express your discontent with Sharon (without the risk of receiving negative feedback as she won't know your ID), please feel free to e-mail her. Sellers should write to her as well as she is a reflection on all of us. Also write to Ebay and complain about this practice. Bidders should feel safe that they know they will be paying Post Office regulated fees for insurance and not receive an e-mail saying if they want insurance they have to pay more to pay employees to stand in line at the Post Office.

I have this habit of belong to some on-line game sites. No, not gambling sites, game sites. They are free and some a person can win money, or prizes, or other things. If you would like to know which ones, please e-mail and I'll let you know.

One that I belonged to for years until now is freelotto.com which owns click2win.com. My mother also plays this one. This is where you can enter six lottery games for the chances to win money, etc. About six months ago, they added a pay part of the site where you pay to play and you get perks. For those of us who don't pay, they changed the rules in that you have to check your own numbers each day and tell them if you win. They used to do that for you. Doesn't sound too bad huh?

Well, Freelotto sends confirming e-mails with what they call a TSN number. You need this number to claim your prize. Unfortunately, my mother and I wouldn't get half of them. I wrote to them and told them this. These brain surgeons came up with the excuse that our spam filters aren't letting them through. This would be true if my Mom or I turned on our spam filters but we haven't. Their next excuse was that we should pay for an e-mail address, don't use a free one. Okay, my mother has Yahoo which is free but I'm with Worldnet which is a paid ISP and I do pay for my e-mail. Then they just ignored my e-mails after that. Remember, we didn't enroll in their pay for lotto program so we're dirt.

Well, lo and behold my Mom won a dollar - that's right - a whole buck, 100 pennies. She went to get the TSN number and guess what? She didn't get that e-mail. She e-mailed them informing them of that fact and submitted the TSN number of the e-mails she did get. Their answer was too bad, you don't have the TSN so you don't get your dollar. Of course, if she paid bucks it would be different. She wrote to them and complained and no response.

Then I e-mailed them saying it was absolutely pathetic that they cheated an 84 year old woman out of a dollar and since it was their fault they should honor the game. Its been about 4 days and I still haven't received a response.

I can only tell you of my experiences but there are much better free game sites out there that will notify you when you win and won't depend upon whether you pay them or not. If you were thinking of joining freelotto or click2win - don't. If you did join, unless you write down the TSN numbers or pay them, they won't give you your winnings so I suggest you cancel your membership and go to a reputable game site.